Kelowna Youth Workers Conference - Dream to be reality?

Ok guys,

This is the first I've really publicly told anyone about this dream. As alot of you know, I've been doing some sort of ministry for a few years, and in that time, I've seen and attended many children's workers conferences. Not once, have I even heard about a Youth workers conference, much less attended. There is alot of amazing conferences and people in youth ministry, yet none in the Okanagan. See where I'm going? My dream, and possibly goal is to plan and organize a Youth Workers Conference geared for people in the Okanagan, especially Kelowna. I'm lucky to have one of the best youth ministry programs in the country here, and I really wish you youth workers could have access to the resources I do. This is why I'm bringing this conference to Kelowna.

It all started out as an assignment for my youth ministry class which required us to organize and plan some sort of programming for a youth group, or another youth related event. Then as I discussed my options with friends and my professors, I began feeling this dream being put on my heart to be molded and fired into reality.

In all honesty, I have no idea exactly where I'm going. I've never organized an event myself, let alone a conference. All I have is this dream and God. This is where you come in. I need your input, concerns, opinions, ideas, criticizm, anything. When this project goes beyond the scope of the assignment, I'm going to need creative, logistical, administrative, ANYONE!! I definatly won't be able to do this on my own.

Specifically right now, I'd like to see what kinds of workshops and speakers and things you'd like to see offered at the conference. And prayer. I'm gonna need alot of support to pull this off. But I know I can with God's strength.

MIRACLE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!

AAAGGGGHHHHHH!

Yup. Dan's just been hit by miracle month. I don't know why I do this, but I've been procrastinating this last 2 weeks. Now I have 1 essay which I had to restart everything last week because of a huge failure on my jerry rigged laptop. Lost everything. The professor knows, but I really want to get this done on time because there's no indication that I'm getting any leeway. I also have a theological critique to do on a 400 page book and I don't even know what a critique is.
Other than that, I had 2 conferences to listen to and write out outlines for them, but those are basically done. Thank goodness for the fixed laptop though, its saved me big time. It allows me alot more freedom to find quiet places to study.
Now that I've finished furnishing my room, I can take pictures of it after miracle month is done. I won't have much time for anything else. As much as I would love to skip sleep and meals, I really don't have a choice.
Sorry to all those people I wont be talking to this month. I want to get through this. Sane preferably.
The biggest thing you could do is to pray for me to have discipline in this next 4 weeks especially. Also pray for extra quiet dorm time after 6. It would help.

Gotta run and finish this essay. Love you all.

Mystery Solved

Got a little email today that explained EVERYTHING about the mysterious hard drive. I wont give out names and such, but a very good friend of mine felt that God had put on their heart to buy this hard drive. And the story behind it in their words is "It was pretty amazing. Most people on eBay don’t allow shipping to other people’s addresses when you have an unverified Papal accounts, let alone to PO boxes. There was only four minutes left and the item was in Canada." Just in case you were wondering. Got alot of homework to do today, so I'm cutting this short.

Love you all.

Surprises!!!

Well, so far, today's been very interesting. It was my first day on noon hour supervision at Caronport Elemenary. More to it than I initially thought. Here kids are allowed to go home for lunch with permission from parents, so theres about 25 kids from out of caronport that stay to eat. So my job begins with a form of attendance, making sure all the kids are there and such. Then from there I have to make sure theres none of that unsafe climbing, beating, choking, eating, etc. and make sure this CUTE little boy eats as much of his meal as possible (apparently he's on strict diets or something like that). Very good school, in the sense that there are not "bad" kids who misbehave for misbehaving.

The surprises today were, a letter from the Poo(h) Collector's Society stating my lifetime membership. (thanks Auntie S. from Membership Services) and a mysteriously delivered Hard drive for my laptop. Havent tested it yet. I'm half expecting it to disappear. But when a hard drive for a laptop arrives in the village of caronport from London Ontario, it does come as a bit of a shock. So if anyone knows anything about it, let me know...I'm curious.

NEW JOB!!!!

Someone is on the school payroll....Yup, its me!! Unfortunatly not as a teacher or anything like that, but I am getting paid regardless. And what better way to get paid than to stand on a playground with a full elementary school of kids running around you. I'll be doing noon hour supervision for the next week and possibly some after this week too. wish me luck.

Love
Dan

Such and Such

Some of you may have noticed my absence online recently. No, I'm not dead. I've just been super focused and super busy with school and extracuricular. I'm actually rather enjoying this state of constant focus and its accompanying feeling of achievement. As a result, I'll probably make limited IM and email access a general rule. Don't feel bad, I'll still be in touch with all you at some point and those of you who I call (with a phone ;) ) or snail mail, I'll continue to do that.

Totally unrelated: I just finished my most recent gem. Its not exactly a diamond. Its more like an amethyst (no relation to my friend Amythest either) still being cut. But I'm proud of it either way. Check it out. http://kidz-church.blogspot.com Its my childrens church site. (I made the tiger banner logo thing btw)

Peace

Winter, Snow, Cold, Wind...the whole package!

Well, Its here.

Winter has finally hit us. It snowed (however slightly) all day yesterday. By the end of the day, it was finally starting to stick to the ground. Its quite bizzare having snow this early when you're used to having snow in January. But I guess with lows being on average of -4 and dropping you're bound to get snow.
These lowering temperatures sure make me thankful that I'm only a minute's walk away from the academic building and post office. And thank you God, for giving me the dorm that's also part of the Caf.
Anyway, I have to run and work on my essay and other such homework.
Its open dorms tonight, which means girls running around my dorm (eek!), which logically means i probably wont be getting much homework dont tonight. Besides, I'm supposed to be getting my replacement computer today. Try doing homework when you got a new toy... Ya. about that.
Love y'all.

Pics and a story

Ok. so its been a week since I've updated. I don't have too much to blog about, so i'll tell you a little story about a couple of my kids, and post some pics (finally).

The Story:
So today for some reason, childrens church was canceled for my class only. (i was glad, all i had was last week's games, and an MA script) so when the kids came out to get their activity packs, I handed out some letters to the parents, and the packets and that was it.
I felt the need to go into my empty classroom and work on kids church stuff rather than go to the service, so in I went. Put on some kids worship music and went away at my planning. Later I heard a voice yell "hey Dan!" followed by the sounds of feet booking it. It took me a couple more times to be proactive (there's a grade 1-2 class right next door) enough to wait for them. Turned out to be the "bad" kids who refuse to listen to leadership. So rather than be Mr. Law and chastise them for being loud and running around the church, I decided to chat them up, let them know that I looked forward to seeing them next week and such. Amazingly enough, that worked much better than the other method would. Rather than the wall that I'm used to beating against, I saw 2 kids that wanted to be my friends. So, Prayers are being answered for me...

Pictures:

(reads: We Will Miss U)
My co-workers made a special last day of work for me. Complete with a cake and a huge box of school stuff.

Random picture of Zach's toy

Freshman Games
(thats Phil in the shark!)

Freshman Games again
(team pic)

"The 13 horned beast of Revelations"
(This is the FOH for our main chapel...if you heard it, you'd know why we call it the beast)

Saw these two girls playing in the mud, splashing and eating and such. And the mother was standing there smiling, laughing.

"The Point"
(or at least part of it. The cafe part is on the right of subway)

Sunsets here are amazing.

Seminary Wing (Bottom Floor) and Library (2nd floor)

My dorm

Entrance to Dorm and Cafeteria

More to come.................

Work in progress

GOSPELS
I've been asked to write an essay on Mark 16:9-20. These last 12 verses are in alot of the later manuscripts of Mark, but not in the earliest ones. My job is to explore the options, and essentially decide whether these last 12 should be included or not.
My first reaction was an indignant, "are you saying that part of the bible, which is truth from God, might not be true enough to belong?" Of course as I thought about it and did preliminary research on the subject, it became clear that it was a legitimate question. The things in Mark 16:9-20 are true and are backed up by the other gospels and it does bring up important points too. Discovering this, I abandoned my initial bias about the topic and decided to argue that these 12 verses are indeed part of Mark.
I hope to research the orriginal manuscripts to see if they cut off at verse 8, or if they wrap up on a 9th verse, or if its meant to continue. I'll also be looking at the mechanics of Mark's writing to see if he actually wrote the last 12 verses and when; the style, the characteristics, and the specific message he communicates about Jesus' life.
If you have any ideas about this topic or have stuff to contribute like sources, leave a comment here. I want this to be an awesome essay.

Youth Ministry
This is another one of my "gem" projects. I have to organise either a month's worth of youth programming (not just games and such, but what I'll teach and such), a weekend retreat, or a missions trip. I'm looking at either the month, or, if I can, organise a full youth Convention weekend. Much like spark or HM. Here's where I'd love to get the input of those of you still in youth, what do you want to see in programs, outings, speakers, bands, speaking topics, workships, anything related to either the YC or the month of programming I'm orgainising. You non-youth people can pitch in if you want. I'd love to have the voice of parents, teachers, experienced youth pastors, church leadership, etc as well.
Again, let me know.

Who am I?

On Thursday in chapel, the worship team sang a song that wasn't new to me. In fact, I used to listen to it so much before I came here. The song was "Who am I?" by the Casting Crowns. But this time, as the beginning notes rang through the air, I began to cry. Not the sobbing type, but the crying that opens the floodgates of your soul. I'd began a new form of worship the night before, where every word in the song, is a prayer to God. Not just a song, but a powerful prayer and soul song to the Creator.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt

Think about it. Even as I look at these words, my eyes fill up, because its so true. Who are we in comparison to God? We're nothing! Insignificant. Yet, God wants to know who we are. He wants to hold each of us nothings and take our hurt. Why would God love us so much?

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

The bridge says it all. We can't explain exactly why God loves us so much, but we do know that we can't do anything to get his love. God doesnt care what we do, what we say, or who our friends are, He loves us because He created us.
What a powerful song. I never realised it either untill I began trying to get closer to God. Prayer is the most powerful form of worship, praise, and communication to God. Scot McKnight in his book "The Jesus Creed" defines prayer as a "Loving communicaition with God." When I discovered this, I began praying daily. I don't go a day without this loving communication with God. In fact, I refuse to fall asleep untill I've prayed at least for those on my prayer wall.
I encourage you that every time you are listening to worship music, in church, youth, or even helping out in kids ministry, Pray the song as you sing it. If it helps, don't sing it all. Focus on meaning every single word you "sing" to God. It will change your perspective.
If you're into reading, Scot McKnight's The Jesus Creed is great too. Not exactly the simplest read, or spoon fed. But it makes you think and realise about Jesus' ministry and what he asks of us. Its only $20. Or wait untill Christmas, and borrow it from me.

In Christ's Unconditional Love...

Don't get me wrong, I love this place

It's thanksgiving weekend and the school has given us a 4 day weekend. So obviously most of the dorm left as soon as their last class was done on thursday to go home and spend thanks giving with thier families. Today the last of the basketball teams left to go home after their game at 2. That leaves a total of 10 guys who either live in BC or ontario, or are Americans who don't celebrate Thanksgiving untill november. I'll be honest, I'm lonely and homesick as heck.
I spent thursday keeping myself busy with homework, but mostly cleaning. Alot of the guys on the hall think I'm crazy, but I love organising and making things efficient. Spent about 3/4's of my day cleaning out 4 storage rooms which had boxes strewn about, bags haphazzardly stacked on duct taped shelves. Much like my room back home. Mom knows. After I was finished, there was floor and EMPTY shelving, and you could find things again. All this to keep myself from thinking about certain people back home, and just being home in general.
That was my mistake, doing everything at once. Now today, I am so sad, lonely, and homesick. I cant even eat today, homework just sits there and glares at me. I can't do anything really without losing focus as thoughts about very special people come to me. Oh, and to top it off, its a rainy gloomy day. Yeah, I miss home and the people there very much.
What are you supposed to do when you get off the phone with a certain someone, and find that it didnt help, that it only made you miss them so much more. Makes me afraid to call anyone else. I know, I know, I'm at Bible College and I should know that my trust and focus should be on the Lord who is my comfort, my best friend. But to say it and to actually apply it are 2 completely different things. Don't get me wrong, I'm trying to focus on God and take advantage of this quiet time.
I'm not posting this because I want pitty, or I want to make you miss me more. I really don't want people to think I'm perfect, or to think that this place is akin to heaven for me. Don't get me wrong, I love this place, but its missing 2 important things: home and people you love. I'm just another guy that God's called to learn. I have faults that I may never tell you guys, I've done things that only a couple people will ever know, I'm the furthest thing from perfect. What I am, is Daniel. Who God has made in his image with love. I am designed with a purpose in mind, with real problems, emotions, and issues. A work in progress.
So as I struggle to learn, and to trust God completely, I as that you pray for me, some comfort, focus, and a renewed passion for nothing but Christ.
I appologise for this somewhat depressing entry and also for the rambling and structurless writing.

I love you all so much

Talk to me!

Hey guys,
Meebo's got an amazing little feature that lets me put a chat box right on here. This goes right to my meebo account and its perfect. So feel free to give it a try if I'm online. It doesnt download anything. Just type in your message, and hit enter and see if I reply back.

Peace

New Music from Trinity Form

Yesterday I discovered a new music group. Not everyone's cup of tea, but definatly popular with a few kids. Turns out that one of the guys on my hall who's in the music program, has a band back home called Trinity Form. Guess how many guys in it...Yup, three. They're all christian rappers. Honestly you'd have to hear it to realise why I'm so excited about them. These guys have put together an amazing album, and they're in the middle of another Sweet one too. (yes, i got to hear some of the preliminary tracks). One of the things i like about this band is they're not just regergitating stuff from the bible and messages that go around. They're real. These guys have been through it all. I had the privilage of listening to a track that will never make it on a CD. Yikes doesnt begin to describe the anger. These guys had some anger to let off, and they let it out in freestyle. While its not the best freestyle i've heard, It was probably the most powerful message. It went along the lines of (with various expletives removed) how life was going so horribly, how nothing made sense, and nothing was really worth it, but yet, even in their anger, the guys kept going back to the true message. Not just repeating it, but expressing their struggles with believeing thier own beliefs and struggles with thier other battles.
I've asked them for a CD and hopefully with their permission, i'll be able to post something on here for you guys to listen.
But here's the deal, while the music is on here, this blog will not be public to the entire web, and I ask you guys NOT to download it and to respect that this is their stuff that they've written, by not using any of the beats, lyrics or any of that. Legally you can, because none of this stuff is copywrited, but out of respect, keep your grubby little mitts off!
I'll keep ya posted.

First sunday

So today was the first day of Childrens Church. And with it came alot of challenges that I never thought to expect. Being brought up ministry wise in an outreach fueled church, I learned how to present God and the lessons to kids who've never heard the stories or those who dont get to have alot of spiritual reinforcement at home. And you're also conditioned to expect to have to discipline a bunch of "bad" kids. But here in Caronport, Its a very different culture. They've all heard every single story pretty much. Everything from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed is centered on God. Christian schooling, sunday school, Childrens church, you name it, most of these kids will have heard it. They've been through this "spiritual babysitting service" of childrens church. Alot of the kids seemed bored when i first met them, but yet, when they saw our music leader, they were all a-chatter with him. The challange with this group of kids is to build relationships, and THEN teach. It seems that some guy teaching the most amazing lesson, wont reach these kids. They'll end up thinking, I've heard this story before, *SNOOOORREE* But I have this feeling that if they see that their best friend and Cool leader is excited about the story and the lesson, they may be more responsive.
Its definatly going to be a challenge for me. But I believe that through God, these kids can be impacted and learn about who Jesus wants them to be.
Pray for me and this group of kids. I dream to see these kids completely change the look of this church.

Jonah the Second

Hey all,
So disaster struck again for me. First it was dissabling my cell phone. Now, I've lost my computer. A hard drive failure has forced me to revert to pen and paper and borrowing computers. Yes. I did lose everything on the harddrive.
The cool thing is so far, I'm not missing my computer. Turns out that the reason God Called me out to the middle of no where to Briercrest is to get me out of my busy cramped life style. Honestly back in Kelowna, I had no time or made no time for God. Sure i was doing alot for God and praying lots, I didnt have any QUIET time with Him. Unfortunatly I failed to realise that this was an integral part of a meaningful relationship with God. While my computer was working, I always found myself chatting online or surfing when I should have been doing homework or devotions. Now that God's removed that from my life, I've been doing homework and devo's more. And as a result, feeling much more fulfilled in my life. Honestly, the ammount He's been speaking to me is amazing, so much more than I could have ever imagined.
The reason my title for this blog entry is Jonah the Second is because my story could be likened to that of Jonah's.
God called Jonah to Ninevah for a specific reason
God called Daniel to Briercrest for a specific reason (the reasons are different, but the idea that we were both called is the same.)
Jonah ran in the opposite direction because he didnt want to do what God called him to do.
Daniel went in the opposite direction because he had more fun doing other things.
Then God sent a storm which threatened to break the ship in two
Then God sent a "storm" which rendered Daniel's computer and phone useless
...After this point, the similarities arent as similar, but in both Both of us got quiet time with God (Jonah in the fish, me with out my computer). However, Jonah's calling was to save the city of Ninevah, My calling was to spend special one on one time with God. My mom pointed this out after she said that she was pretty darn sure that God was trying to get my attention. Besides, I've always said I dont believe in co-incidences, and I think my room mate deciding NOT to go the year with out a computer, and then buying one was not a co-incident. God had that planned so i could still do my school work on computer, but not have my own computer for a while so I could get back in touch with God.
I would like to ask for prayer though, that some how I'll be able to replace the drive on my computer and windows, or replace the computer itself.
Thanks guys

Dan

BridalQuest Bridal College.....

So I have to make an observation here. I came here knowing that there are people who come to Bible College only to get married or meet a girl or guy. However, I never actually understood or possibly allowed myself to believe it until now. I'm betting that at least half the guys on my hall, are here with Girls as their number one priority.
Why? Why on earth would you spend 5000-6000 per SEMESTER to flirt and hopefully date a girl? Heck, there's plenty of guys who dont even care about their courses, just the girls. Bible College should not be an expensive dating service. It should be a GOD centered place where people are CALLED to be equipped for life in ministry for God, or where they are CALLED to learn about Him and grow closer.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people meeting at school, while they're working on their calling, and getting married. You should at Bible College because of GOD's own calling on your life. Don't get caught up in the myth that as long as you're at Bible College, you're doing God's calling. People should be at Bible College to learn more about their relationship with God.
Well, thats my rant. Feel free to throw text tomatoes and tell me i'm wrong, just back it up. I'm interested in seeing what people think.

Music Wish list

So now that I'm a starving student, I think I'm going to start a music wish list. Most of you know how much I love music. Now combined with my current endevours, I've run accross music that I'd love to use in kids ministry, but also listen to outside of church too. And here they are.

Here I am to Worship for Kids (1/2/3) -- A Worship Together CD
Kid Hitz -- Brentwood Records
Absolute Modern Worship for Kids -- Fervent Records
iWorship Kids (1/2) -- Integrity
Youth Power Praise --
Shout to the Lord Kids (1/2/3) --
Any of the more recent Promiseland CD's

--

And some CD's I'd love that arent ministry related...
CRAIG PHILIPS & DEAN!!!!!
Big Daddy Weave
FFH
Elevate
Shane and Shane
Any Worship Compilations

Yeah... i kinda feel self-centered doing this, but I dont think there's a law against doing that...

Join the Team!

Hey People.
Marvin's brought on a very good idea. I realise that most of you guys who read this, also read the other blog, but I wanted to show my support. So I'm right behind you guys with this Positive Attitude Year. Lets see who and what we impact through this.
Evangel Kid Outreach: First it was Postive Attitude Day... then it was Positive Attitude Week... then Month...

RSS Feed!!

Hey guys, I dont know who here knows what RSS is or who uses it, but i figured i might as well tell you all that the RSS feed is http://randomnations.blogspot.com/rss.xml
Peace.

Another new thing...

Hey guys. So I'm about to attempt something that will hopefully help me solidify what i'm learning. Now i can actually post on my blog with an excuse. Anyway. So I'm going to be attempting to peice back together lectures from my classes on a blog, with my own thoughts and comments too. So keep in mind that i could miss the point, I could be wrong. But i'm learning and i'll try to keep it as biblical and true as i can. well. here goes...